Hawaii surfers in title hunt

Five Hawaii surfers -- two men and three women -- still have a shot at Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour titles.

Reigning men's champion Sunny Garcia and Andy Irons of Hawaii are ranked fifth and sixth as the 2001 tour rolls into Hawaii for its final event -- the Rip Curl Cup at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore.

The event has a holding period from Nov. 26 through Dec. 7.

C.J. Hobgood is the men's points leader, followed in order by former world champion Mark Occhilupo, Cory Lopez and Taylor Knox. All are from the United States, except Occhilupo, who is from Australia.

Australia's Jake Paterson, Daniel Wills and Shane Powell also have a shot at the men's world title.

Paterson said Garcia is the favorite on his home turf.

"Sunny would have to be the one to look out for," he said. "He does the biggest turns out there and is the defending champ at Sunset."

On the women's side, Hawaii's Rochelle Ballard is tied for second in the world tour ratings, while fellow Hawaii surfers Megan Abubo and Keala Kennelly are fourth and tied for fifth.

Ballard, Abubo and Kennelly will be competing against three-time defending champion and top-ranked Layne Beachley of Australia in the season-ending Billabong Girls contest at Honolua Bay, Maui. The event's holding period is Nov. 26 through Dec. 7.

Beachley holds a slim 30-point lead over Ballard and Australia's Melanie Redman.

"I've only got a 30-point lead going into Hawaii, which is the most pressure I've ever had," Beachley said. "In the past, I've had at least a 600-point advantage."

Triple Crown: The men's Rip Curl Cup is the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

The first Triple Crown event is the G-Shock Hawaiian Pro at Alii Beach Park in Haleiwa from Nov. 12-25, and the finale is the Xbox Pipeline Masters at Banzai Pipeline from Dec. 8-21.

The Hawaiian Pro is a World Qualifying Series event (the WQS is a feeder system to the WCT), while the Pipeline Masters is considered a specialty "Champion of Champions" event, according to Triple Crown organizers.

Two other WQS events are coming up in Hawaii -- the Sunset Xcel Pro men's contest at Sunset Beach from Oct. 28 through Nov. 10 and the Roxy Pro women's contest at Alii Beach Park, which runs Nov. 12-25 along with the Hawaiian Pro men's contest.

UH soccer attempting to set attendance record

The Hawaii women's soccer team and the City & County of Honolulu will honor various service groups tomorrow in an attempt to set a new school single-match attendance record and perhaps challenge the NCAA regular-season, single-match attendance mark.

The festivities begin at 4 p.m. with the kickoff for the Hawaii-Southern Methodist match set for 5:07 p.m. at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

The pregame ceremony, "A Tribute to Heroes" will honor those who gave their lives attempting to save others in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on New York and Washington, D.C. The tribute will also recognize Oahu's police, fire and emergency medical service members.

The UH single-match attendance mark is 1,772 set last year. The NCAA mark is 6,024, when No. 1 Notre Dame played No. 5 North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1998.

UH soccer, football coaches at QB club

Hawaii soccer coach Pinsoom Tenzing will join football coaches June Jones and Kevin Lempa at Monday's Quarterback Club luncheon at the Pagoda International Ballroom.

The buffet opens at 11:30 a.m. with the progam beginning at noon.

BYUH tennis players lose at event in Texas

Brigham Young-Hawaii's Jan Krejci lost in the ITA National Small College Championship semifinals in Plano, Texas, yesterday to top seed and defending champion Radovan Chrz of West Florida, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1.

Krejci and doubles partner Peter Madarassy lost in the third-place match to Carlos Llanes and Trevor Kiruki of Drury, 8-6.

Women tennis players from Oahu finish fourth.

The women's team from Oahu finished in fourth place at the USA League Tennis 3.5 Adult National Championships in San Diego, Calif. Hawaii lost to Louisville, Ky., 3-2 in the playoffs for third place.

Team members include captain Gaye Fujimoto, Laura Yee, Sonnie Koko, Leigh Daida, Stephanie Higa, Edna Gomez, Sandy Nakashima, Donna Mosier, Karen Hamaguchi, Eriqueta Tahilan, Brynn Jolliffee and Renni Matsumoto.